Dig Different Magazine: SSC still growing and delivering after 40+ years
Back in 1969, Marcia and Arvid Veidmark Jr. and his parents established Specialized Services Co. as a traditional opencut excavating company. Their assets consisted of nothing more than a used pickup truck, a Ditch Witch trench-ing machine and a trailer — and a contract to install underground residential telephone cables in Phoenix, Arizona. A quick fast-forward to today reveals a company now known as SSC Underground, with nearly 40 employees, about $5 million in revenue in 2016, and roughly $4 million worth of advanced trenchless excavating equipment. Moreover, the company’s primary geographic market now includes the entire southwestern U.S. What happened during those 47 years under-scores the importance of investing in new technology — in this case, horizontal-auger boring machines and air-excavation vacuum trucks— and adapting to evolving market conditions. It also reflects the importance of diversification, both in services offered and customers served, not to mention less tangible but still critical elements: A strong entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to learn from mistakes.“From a field perspective, you have to be open to trying new things — and be willing to fail,” says Arvid Veidmark III, the son of Marcia and Arvid Jr. He co-owns the company with his mother and his brother, Abe Veidmark. Marcia is the majority owner and serves as company president, Arvid III is the executive vice president and Abe is the vice president. (Arvid Jr. is retired.)